Tag Archives: goodwill industries of central arizona

Velocity Retail Group, LLC has released a summary of their recent retail transactions including:

Velocity Retail Group’s Darren Pitts, Michael Clark and John Jackson sold a 50,684 square foot former Fry’s grocery store located at 825 W. University Drive in Mesa, Arizona. The building was sold to Geyser Management, LLC for $950,000, who is putting Planet Fitness in the building. Shelby Tworek from NAI Horizon represented the Buyer. This is one of two other disposition projects that Velocity is handling on behalf of Fry’s.

Andy Kroot at Velocity represented Goodwill Industries of Central Arizona, Inc. on a 28,880 square foot lease at Riveria Plaza and the northwest corner of University and Gilbert Road in Mesa. The Landlord was 1900 Univ AZ, LLC.

Mega Furniture USA leased a 35,000 square foot location at Gateway Pavilions at the northwest corner of McDowell Road and 99th Avenue in Avondale. Dave Cheatham of Velocity Retail represented the tenant in the transaction. This will be Mega Furniture’s eleventh location in Phoenix as they enter their 12th year in business. The store is expected to open in the next quarter.

Michael Clark and Darren Pitts represented Mattress Firm in a 7,000 square foot location at Emerald Center, at the northeast corner of Warner and Interstate 10 in Tempe. The landlord is Emerald I-10, LLC. The store is expected to open in the first quarter of 2016.

Brian Gast represented Desert Troon Properties in a 2,537 square foot lease to MOD Pizza at Superstition Gateway West at the southwest corner of US 60 and Signal Butte in Mesa. The tenant was represented by Phoenix Commercial Advisors and is expected to open in the 3rd quarter of 2015.

The parent company for Smart Gym, Blu Phoenix, LLC worked with Larry Miller and John Jackson on their new corporate headquarters location at Paradise Valley Corporate Center, 4835 E. Cactus Road. This is the first corporate office for the company, and the 2,092 square foot location opened in March.

Michael Clark, John Jackson and Nick Ault from Velocity Retail represented the Landlord, Northsight Scottsdale Crossing, LLC in a 3,200 square foot transaction for The Sliding Door Company at the northeast corner of Raintree and Northsight in Scottsdale. The tenant was represented by Jim Lieberthal of Cutler Commercial and is expected to open in the third quarter of 2015. This will be the company’s first location in Arizona.

Judi Butterworth from Velocity represented Firehouse Subs in a new 2,400 square foot store at the northeast corner of Acoma and Scottsdale Road in Scottsdale. This site marks the sixth location for this operator who handles the markets of Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Prescott. The building is an adaptive reuse of an existing flex building. The landlord was represented by Chris Hollenbeck at DTZ.

Darren Pitts and Michael Clark represented Mattress Firm on a 10-year 3,500 square foot location at the southeast corner of Pinnacle Peak Road and Scottsdale Road in the Silverstone Marketplace. The landlord, Eisenberg Companies was represented by Ryan Amato. The new store is slated to open in May of this year.

Velocity Retail Group’s Larry Miller and John Jackson represented the landlord, Greenway Park Plaza LLC on a 1,200 square foot lease to Boost Mobile. The new store will be the fifth location for this operator and is located at the northeast corner of Greenway Road and 32nd Street in Phoenix. The store opened at the end of March.

Mattress Firm signed a 3,800 square foot lease at the northeast corner of U.S. 60 and Alma School Road in Mesa. Velocity’s Darren Pitts and Michael Clark represented the Tenant in the 10-year transaction. The landlord, STR Fund X, LLC was represented by Phoenix Commercial Advisors, Chuck Wells. The store is expected to open in July of this year.

The Hen House Cafe will be occupying 2,434 square feet at the northeast corner of Pecos and Lindsay at the Shops and Spectrum Village. This will be the second location for this popular downtown Gilbert restaurant. Brian Gast of Velocity Retail represented the landlord in the transaction. TJ Zaharis at Cobe Real Estate represented the Tenant, which is expected to open in the 2nd quarter of this year.

Edward Jones Investments was represented by Velocity’s Larry Miller and John Jackson on a 1,630 location at 49 W. Main Street in Mesa, AZ. Edward Jones continues to re-position their locations throughout the Phoenix area with the Miller / Jackson team. This particular location was relocated from an office building to this historic and newly remodeled building in downtown Mesa.

Jim Teter, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Arizona, discusses how the economic bust has affected Goodwill, why they’ve seen an increase in donations, employment at Goodwill, its future and more.

Jim Teter

Why did you decide to move to a nonprofit after all your years of success in for-profit industries?

I’ve always had a lot of respect for Goodwill’s mission and Goodwill’s board of directors was looking for a little bit different direction as we continued to grow. They were looking for someone that had business experience because we operate Goodwill like a business, but they also wanted someone who had some nonprofit experience as well. I’ve been involved in nonprofits as a volunteer for over 25 years, but I’ve run larger business operations. I think the board of directors found that appealing. It’s given me a chance to use all my experience to help make a difference for Goodwill. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s about: helping Goodwill be all it can be as we grow and get bigger.

Has the economic bust been a boon for Goodwill?

Because of the nature of what Goodwill does, which is a thrift retail business, we tend to fare a lot better in difficult economic times than most businesses. Up until 2007, we were growing 20 to 22 percent a year. In the years during the recession we’re still growing at 11 or 12 percent a year and reaching thousands and thousands of people and helping serve them. So this has been an opportunity for us to introduce some new people to Goodwill because a lot of people are looking for the values that they find when they shop at Goodwill, so our customer counts are up and our revenues are up. Those are all good things.

Are you seeing a shift in donations?

What we’ve found is that people tend to hang on things a little bit longer. People are not donating quite as much as they did before the recession. But the good news is we have more people donating. Our donation counts are up about nine percent year over year. I think that’s because people know that we are going to get the most value out of their donations, and we help a lot of people prepare for and find work. That’s what we are all about: helping people find work.

How has the increased unemployment rate impacted Goodwill’s goal of putting people to work?

People that are coming in the career centers today are quite diverse in their backgrounds and their experiences. Generally speaking, we still have a lot of entry-level employees that are seeking jobs, but we get a little bit of everything these days. We have people that have college degrees, masters degrees, PhDs. What we offer them is, at no cost to them, a very convenient way to go build resumes, learn skills they didn’t have so they can move into a different industry. A lot of people are finding that attractive and taking advantage of that.

Where do you see Goodwill ten years from now?

We believe we can continue to grow and help more and more people. The only reason we want to be bigger is because we can reach out and serve more people, help more people prepare for and find jobs. I kind of wish we could put ourselves out of business, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. We will be the first thing that comes to mind when people ask, ‘Who can help someone with employment and job training? That’s Goodwill.’ That’s where we would like to be in the next five to ten years.

Vital Stats: Jim Teter

Joined Goodwill in 2008

Before Goodwill, was Chief Operating Officer of Calence, LLC in Tempe

Graduate of Texas Tech University with a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering

Has more than 26 years of experience with high-profile corporations such as IBM and Avnet

Co-chaired South Texas United Way’s business campaigns, served on the Board of the American Heart Association, was an active member of the Corpus Christi Economic Development Corporation and served on the external executive committee for Texas A&I University (now part of the Texas A&M University System)

Actively supported Respite Care of San Antonio, Hacienda de los Angeles in Phoenix and Paiute Neighbor Association in Scottsdale

Member of the Association for Corporate Growth, Arizona Business Leadership, Phoenix Community Alliance, Organization for Non-Profit Executives and Greater Phoenix Leadership